CONTENTS

Contents

page

1. Introductions
2. Priorities, Dynamics and Ethos
3. Focusing on Mediocrity
4. Mediocrity and Beyond
5. The Challenges of Professional Change
6. Stability and Success without Stagnation
7. Some Reflections on Being a Head teacher

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INTRODUCTIONS
In this short chapter I introduce some of
head teachers I encountered. Not all of
them for that might be rather repetitive and
long-winded but, rather, a sample to provide a flavor of the range of schools, the individuals I met, and a hint of what is to follow. Some situations will be familiar to you;
others less so. As the book unfolds the pictures I paint will provide echoes and insights into peoples working lives. They will
be different for each and every one of us.

It is important to appreciate that all of the head teachers to whom I

spoke were highly regarded and successful. Ideas and behavior which I
garnered and which particularly attracted me and, hopefully, these will
not be apparent are no more nor less appropriate than those that appeal to you. It is not a question of there being a right way to be a leader
but, as will emerge, that success tends to come from combining a
range of factors in a particular way which suits your personality and the
situation in which you find yourself.

PRIORITIES, DYNAMICS AND ETHOS

When you walk into his or her classroom
it is exciting, the environment is exciting,
they are using resources in an imaginative way. And the children make progress. Its about children making progress, both within lessons and over time.
And then reflecting what they are doing
and analyzing what they are doing at different intervals, so that they are assessing children all the way along and then
modifying and changing as they go.

All of the head teachers were very animated

throughout much of our discussion but they
were clear that creating and maintaining a positive culture in their schools was hard work and
an ongoing process which could not be left to
chance:

Child-centred
There was a general consensus that successful early years teachers share some
fundamental personal qualities.

FOCUSING ON MEDIOCRITY
It is not about condemning them or casting
blame. Rather it is about understanding
them, how they come to be as they are,
the effect they have on others, and, as we
will see in the next chapter, how inmost
cases very effectively head teachers
manage them

Challenges in spotting mediocre practice

If someone is underperforming in a school you
might imagine that it would be relatively easy to
spot him or her but that is not always the case for a
variety of reasons

Those who are not susceptible to change and are

not willing to change or are incompetent and cant
take on board new ideas its beyond their capacity
to be able to change their teaching because either
theyve been doing it too long or even, sometimes,
they are younger and they just have a very fixed
mindset.

MEDIOCRITY AND BEYOND

Some underlying principles of action
The head teachers adopted a range of strategies
as they endeavored to enhance the professional
practice of colleagues. Some were informal:
others less so. Some were done in isolation: others in tandem with other techniques. Before describing their methods in more detail I would like
to draw your attention to some of the principles
underlying their actions.

Informal strategies
Build on strengths
There will be something that they are doing right. So what I did was try to play to her
strengths cos there were things that she was particularly good at, and try and detach my
side, emotionally, from the personal side of things ... she had real artistic strengths. In terms
of the planning, she could do it, so the way I pulled her into line was to make her very accountable and to make sure that I saw planning in advance.
Making feel part of team
In every way, trying to keep bringing them into the centre. By this she meant literally, as
she went on, But what had happened was hed been left in a mobile out on the playground
for quite a number of years. The key thing I did was bring him right into the centre of the
school, physically, one thing I could keep an eye on every day I was going past but also
he had to engage with otherpeople a bit more.
Giving responsibility
The other thing I try to do is give them responsibilities within the school. To try to get them
engaged in projects bringing students in I find that that has been very effective. You
know, because they have to take responsibility somewhere. They therefore have to think
about their own teaching in order to support the students and quite often some of the student stuff will rub off, make them think about things.

THE CHALLENGES OF PROFESSIONAL CHANGE

Government demands
If you work in a context
where there is little or,
usually, very helpful
external involvement in
educational matters then
you may wish to miss this

They are extremely knowledgeable about educational

issues, so their own knowledge is good and they keep
up to date with what is going on and are prepared to
question their thinking and challenge their thinking
and move on in the light of new research. And, I suppose, they are able to deal with what the government
throws their way in a way that maintains their professionalism yet doesnt compromise what they feel is
important for children to learn, and they can usually
do that.

Finding the appropriate starting point

Getting colleagues on ones side and willing to embrace
change is crucial but so too is recognizing where to start
the process. Getting a teacher to go and work alongside or
observe another teacher, who is able to differentiate really
well, can be helpful. But sometimes the teacher that you
have asked to go and observe someone else they dont
quite know what they are seeing they dont understand
the subtlety, the complexity of it, because theyre not thinking at that level. I mean, if you cant differentiate really well,
if you dont really know your children.

A notable absence?
There are very few references in this chapter to measuring
the impact of change on classroom performance. Admittedly I did not ask specifically about this but, given that
the head teachers volunteered a large amount of information that was not requested, this omission is interesting.

STABILITY AND SUCCESS WITHOUT STAGNATION

Youve got to know what your children

need apart from anything else and if
youve always got it from the National Curriculum and just said, Thats what weve
got to do, therefore you will learn like this.
Actually, you know, if you havent listened
to your children, they havent got a voice,
you havent realised the context in which
they live, then that is very hard.

Continuing professional development (CPD)

As one might expect, in all the schools there were continuing professional development opportunities. Here the head teachers describe some of their strategies. The teachers get together in
groups of three and usually experienced teachers with a less experienced teacher, and help mentor each other, so whatever the
school focus is it might be looking at childrens independence in
learning, or childrens assessment then they spend 20 minutes
observing each other and writing up a paragraph on what theyve
learned and how that will affect their practices.

The composition of such teams, and the very real issues which exercise heads and their colleagues as they strive to enhance professional practice. As with previous chapters, lots of factors interweave, and as I prepared the draft for this one, it seems there were
even more connections than most. Indeed the spiders in my spider
diagram looked as if they were positively manic! To a certain extent this is not surprising as this chapter is adopting more of a
whole-school perspective than previously. Thus there is potential
for more interconnections as more people and hence a greater

SOME REFLECTIONS ON BEING A HEADTEACHER

Performance management issues
Performance management is usually an integral part of a head
teacher's head of departments role. It is an important responsibility
and one where there is significant potential at one extreme to get
it totally wrong. At the other extreme to make a massively important
contribution to someones progress and understanding of themselves
and their work or, as is usually the case, have an impact somewhere
in between these two possibilities.
The shadow effect
For the twinkling of an eye this section was entitled The halo
effect but, as a colleague was quick to point out, the content
has rather more negative connotations than one associates
with a halo. Very briefly I want to draw your attention to the
possibility of giving a dog a bad name and it sticking.
External challenges and opportunities
My first thought was to entitle this section External interference for,
as I write, there seems to be a lot of it about at the moment. In the
introduction to the book I said I would not discuss government policies in any detail but rather focus on more grassroots issues relating to the leadership and management of schools. Another reason
for not dwelling on national strategies and impositions is that they
seem to be changing every five minutes.
On making yourself available
Management by walking around is all very well but it is important to acknowledge that there is a potential price attached.
Throughout the book the value of teamwork is mentioned time
and gain: I consider it to be a significant component of successful leadership and progress.